Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) were created to help corporations and organizations handle large numbers of applications. They track applications and serve as the first step of the process to narrow down the pool of qualified applicants by scanning resumes for keywords and forwarding the most qualified candidates to recruiters or hiring managers. Here are some basic steps you can take to improve the chances of your resume making it past the ATS:
- Don’t try to trick the ATS. You may hear suggestions like pasting keywords into your document in white text, but tactics like that will most likely cause problems once a recruiter realizes that you are willing to cheat the system. Instead, use keywords in context in your accomplishment statements.
- Keep your formatting simple. Fancy, creative formatting can work well in some industries when you are presenting your resume directly; however, creative formatting will confuse an ATS. Things to avoid include tables, text boxes, logos, images, graphics, columns, headers and footers, hyperlinks on important words, and unusual fonts.
- Apply to roles you are qualified for. This doesn’t mean you have to have every single qualification listed in the posting or that you cannot apply for jobs outside of your current industry. It just means that you should meet the core qualifications to make it past the ATS.
- Don’t apply for too many jobs within the same organization. The ATS lets recruiters see how many and which jobs you have applied for in an organization. If you apply to many different roles, recruiters will not be able to tell what you are interested in, and it will seem as though you lack awareness of your own skill set. However, it’s fine to apply for multiple very similar roles.
- File type is important. PDFs keep your format intact, but .docx files (Word files) are easiest for the ATS to read. The best thing to do is to choose the file format that the posting or application system asks for. If they don’t provide instructions, use a .docx file.